Oxbow Inn Snowmobiling Run. Fun in the sun!

February 28, 2025 Trail Conditions No Comments

After Thursday’s dance in the rain and wet snow, I was thrilled to see bright sun again after a fresh inch or two of snow made it look good.

Picked up Darrin Jr at his abode and headed south for the day.

Bear Trap Swamp was beautiful in the sun.

That was the best thing I saw in Indian Lake. Main artery trails and C8/Sabael trail were ROUGH when we left town late morning.

Heading out

Indian Lake (the lake) was the best I’ve seen it this winter, hands down! Legit 8.5 stars out of 10. Compared to C8/Sabael trail behind us and Campsites trail ahead of us, it would have been graded 15 stars out of 10.

C8/Two Miles from Hell was serviceable. Bumps had been flattened to tolerable.

Perkins Clearing, great ride all the way to the back!

C4/C8 Big Brook trail, fresh groom for the WIN!

OHHHHH YEAHHHH!!!!

C4/C8 Willis Mountain trail past the Outhouse was a pretty good ride with some long wave rollers down to HAMI 118 intersection. Then it became really nice to Piseco Lake.

After a great crossing on Piseco Lake, S88 from Piseco Lodge to Powley Road was a beautiful ride through the hardwoods. I’ve come up golden every time I’ve hit this trail this winter.

Aside from scalloped bumps on some curves, Powley Road was SPOT ON!

Sniffed C8A after end of Powley Road. Trail was getting bumped up from heavy snowmobiling traffic. Didn’t think that trail would be any better for a return trip, so we turned tail and rolled Powley Road up to Route 10.

C8/Spy Lake trail was moderately chewed up from heavy snowmobiling traffic, but not yet horribly bumpy. Snow was mealy on south-facing hillsides, a subtle sign that more snowmobiling is behind us than ahead of us for this winter.

Lunch

Oxbow Inn was moderately busy. But we caught the tail end of lunch rush and the Rockstars know how to keep food and people moving!

Oxbow Inn is known well for its pizza. Not something I order while riding, but Darrin Jr agreed to help me take down a pizza. We ordered the Mt. Marcy pizza and that thing was LOADED with sausage, ham, pepperoni, meatballs and bacon! I think Jr got a little more than he bargained for.

GAME ON!

We did finish that pizza. Worth every calorie and I won’t have to eat again until dinner tomorrow.

Speculator then back to Indian Lake

Was a bit apprehensive about getting back on the saddle with a gut full of pizza, especially with the fairly heavy snowmobiling traffic. But we had to press on!

C4/Fish Mountain trail has plenty of low bumps and a few rollers, but far from being as bad as I feared. Oxbow Lake, Sacandaga Lake and Lake Pleasant all fast crossings.

Caught a fresh groom on LP1/Page Street trail for the WIN! Business Access Trail (BAT) to Mountain Market was pretty good. Snowbanks steep-n-deep at Mountain Market.

Ran C4 straight up the gut from Speculator Village to Perkins Clearing. Chattery on the skis, but not as horrible as I feared. Felt like I got a “Get out of jail free card.”

Perkins Clearing southern bypass was a pretty good ride. Just some scuffed corners through that avenue.

Perkins Clearing Road was holding up well. Diverted through S82C/Old Indian Lake Road because I haven’t touched it this winter. Not the best ever, but a nice run for sure!

Caught a near fresh groom on C8/Two Miles from Hell and collected my $200 bonus! Proof positive it’s better to be lucky than good. After mashing our way through the Campsite snocross mogul track, we meandered a bit on Indian Lake before it got dark.

C8/Sabael trail returning to Indian Lake had been groomed, but plenty of low studder-bumps remained. Notably better ride than it was in the morning. I took that gladly.

C8 toward Headquarters and C8A/Old S84 toward Blue Mountain Lake were groomed while we were out of town Friday. But if the main artery trails Friday evening were any indication, another run of the groomers Saturday morning will be needed to make the trails friendly again to start the weekend.

Rolled into compound with 117 (mostly) easy going miles. Beautiful late winter’s day and didn’t have to peel off wet snowmobiling gear like I did Thursday evening.